The Carp decided yesterday that Masaya Kanemaru (4th round) and Yuki Tsurumoto (7th round) will be demoted to Ni-gun camp. Yuya Fukui (1st round) would normally be on the verge of a demotion as well, but it seems the club is going to cut him a little slack and keep him with the Ichi-gun group for a bit longer (primarily because of the late start).

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Kan Otakethrew 72 pitches in the bullpen yesterday (squatting catcher). He also had Tetsuya Kokubo, Takahiro Iwamoto, and Yoshihiro Maru stand in the batter's box. He also threw his shuto and change. For Otake, it was his fourth bullpen this spring.

Otake - "It wasn't really a great session. But more important was that i was able to throw. I still can't get rid of the fear [of getting hurt again], but I think I need to keep pushing forward. If I don't do this, I won't get passed it."

Chunichi Dragons' scout - "He looked good on the mound and it didn't seem like he was too worried about his shoulder. Seems like he might be ready for the start of the regular season. We need to consider the possibility that we might face Kenta Maeda, Bryan Bullington and him [during the first series of the season]."

Hanshin Tigers' scout - "The fact that he was throwing his shuto means his shoulder is feeling good. He must be at that point where they're leaving it up to him to decide what to do."